Homophobic host could face three years in prison after refusing gay couple

The host in the Adriatic city of Zadar who refused to accommodate tourists because they were gay could well find himself in prison for three years.

A tourist from Brazil had inquired to rent a room with a double bed for him and his partner in Zadar through a well-known online booking agency was refused by a Zadar host as he said he didn’t accept gay guests. Once the booking agency were made aware of the situation by the Brazilian guests they immediately shut down his account and refused to work with him and now it appears this hosts punishment could be much more severe.

Zadar police have reported that he has been reported in an article of the criminal code under “violation of equality,” and if found guilty could face a sentence of three years. The criminal investigation is underway in co-operation with the state attorney’s office.

The President of Family Tourism at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, Danijela Čavlović, commented from 24 Sata that “I believe that people who are discriminating, which has now been confirmed by the police criminal investigation, should not be doing this job, because being a host and being homophobic do not go together.”